Receiver-holding attachment for telephones.



J. F. WILLIAMS. RECEIVER HOLDING ATTACHMENT FOR TELEPHONES.

APPLICATION nuzo OCT. 5. 1916.

1 ,QQL?@% Patented Apr. 3, 1917.

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JOHN F. WILLIAMS, 0]? NEW YORK, N. Y.

RECEIVER-HOLDING ATTACHMENT FOR TELEPHONES.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Apr. 3, 1917.

Application filed. October 5, 1916. Serial No. 123,883.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, JOHN F. WILLIAMS, a citizen of the United States, and a resident of the city of New York, borough of Manhattan, in the county and State of New York, have invented a new and Improved Receiver-Holding Attachment for Telephones, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description.

This invention relates to telephones, and it has for its general objects to provide a receiver holding attachment adaptable for desk or wall telephones, whereby the receiver is mechanically supported so that the user may have his hands free for writing or any other purpose.

A more specific object of the invention is the provision of a device of this character which is of comparatively simple and inexpensive construction, reliable and eflicient in use, and so designedthat it can be adjusted to operate in a variety of ways for the purpose of mechanically supporting the receiver in proper relation to the ear of the user while the mouth is adjacent the transmitter.

With such objects in view, and others which will appear as the description proceeds, the invention comprises various novel features of construction and arrangement of parts which will be set forth with particularity in the following description and claims appended hereto.

In the accompanying drawing, which illustrates one embodiment of the invention and wherein similar characters of reference indicate corresponding parts in all the views,

Figure 1 is a front view of a desk telephone with the receiver supporting attachment applied thereto;

Fig. 2 is a plan view of the attaching sleeve and receiver supporting bracket;

Fig. 3 is a plan view of the transmitter with the attachment means whereby the bracket can be supported on the transmitter, the attaching means being partly in section;

Fig. 4 is a side view of the receiver holding clip;

Fig. 5 is a fragmentary side view of the bracket showing the extension joint;

Fig. 6 is a detail sectional view on the line 6-6, Fig. 5;

Fig. 7 is a detail sectional view on the line 77, Figure 1; and

Fig. 8 is a diminutivevview of the telehone and receiver holding attachment illusrating a special use of the latterrii Referring to the drawing, A designates a telephone which is shown as of the desk type, and B designates the attachment. The telephone comprises the usual transmitter 1, the handle or column 2, the base 3, the receiver holding fork 4, and the receiver 5.

The receiver supporting attachment B comprises a sliding grip or attaching sleeve 6, a bracket 7 connected with the sleeve 6, an arm 8 pivoted on the bracket, a clip 9 carried by the arm and holding the receiver 5, a clamping'band 10 on the transmitter, and a connecting link 11 between the band 10 and bracket 7.

The sleeve is divisible longitudinally into two semi-cylindrical sections a and b which are fastened together by bolts or equivalent fasteners 12 which pass through lugs 13 on the sections a and b. The sleeve is capable of sliding on the handle 2 of the telephone, or it may be clamped thereto by means of a set screw 14 or equivalent means. The sections a and b of the sleeve 6 have upwardly extending members 15 which are spaced apart so that the shank 4" of the fork 4 may extend between them. The inner end of the bracket is bifurcated and the bifurcations 16 straddle the members 15 and they are fastened thereto by bolts or equivalent fasteners 17, 18, 19 and 20. The bracket 7 has a forwardly directed portion 21 extending from the bifurcations 16 and a laterally extending forward portion 22. The portion 21 is extensible so that the receiver supporting forward end may be adjusted back and forth so as to bring the receiver into proper relation with the car when the mouth of the user, is adjacent the transmitter. For this purpose the portion 21 is formed with a guide 28 in which slides the straight part 24 of the front section 22 of the bracket. The guide has a longitudinal 'slot 25 through which extends a clamping screw 26, the latter screwing into the straight part 24 of the front section. Obviously the bracket may be made in any other way to provide for this forward or backward adjustment of the forward end/ The receiver holding arm 8 is fastened at its lower end by a clamping screw 27 to the forward section 22 of the bracket 7, and the upper end of the arm 8 is split to form clamping jaws 28 between which is gripped the double portion 29 of the clip 9. This clip is formed of a strip of spring metal doubled on itself so as to form yielding gripe bracket ping jaws, and the free ends of these aws are formed into lips 30 for permitting the free insertion or removal of the receiver, and furthermore, the receiver can be slid axially to adjust the ear piece thereof toward or from the transmitter. The clip 9 is clamped in place by a screw 31 which passes through the members 28 and the attaching portion 29 of the clip. This clamping screw or bolt 31 also forms a pivot for permitting'the clip to be adjusted to any desired angle.

The bottom of the arm 8 is provided with a laterally extending lug 32 which is adapted to engage with a pin 33 in the bracket 7, said pin being adjustable by being placed in either the opening 34 or 35.

On the transmitter 1 is an encircling eylinder 36 to form a support for the band 10, this .band being circular and having its ends formed into lugs 37 through which passes a clamping screw or bolt 38, whereby the band can be immo'vably or slidably clamped on the supporting member 36. This supporting member 36 may be fastened in any suitable manner on the transmitter, as, for instance, by screws 39. The band 10 has a lug 40 which is connected by a pivot 41 to the upper end of the member 11. The lower end of this member 11- is connected by a pivot screw or bolt 42 with the bracket 7 and if it is desired to rigidly connect the member 11 with the bracket 7, an additional bolt may be inserted in the openings 43 of the member 11 and duplicate bracket 7 may be placed on the opposite side of the telephone and support a second receiver so that there will be one for each earn On the sleeve 6 may be mounted a device for holding the same raised, whereby'the fork 4 will be supported in talking position. This device comprises a lever 44 fulcrumed 1 at 45 on the sleeve 6 and the lever is formed phone, and the lever also has'an upper arm with a lower arm 46 provided with a roller 47 which rides on the base 3 of the tele- 48 which lies close to the sleeve 6. By moving' the upper arm 48 outwardly and downwardly the sleeve6 is raised so as to place the telephone in condition for talking, this raising beingeffected by the roller-carrying arm 46 bearing on the base 3 and causing the fulerum' 45, together with the sleeve 6, to be lifted; 'By thereverse movement of the arm 4.8, the sleeve 6 drops by gravity so as to return the telephone fork 4 to normal position.

The lever arm 48 may be provided with a clip 49 to hold a pencil 50. The movement of the sleeve 6 upwardly allows the fork 4 to" swingfupwardly by' reason of its usual elevating spring, but when the sleeve 6 moves downwardlythe b01618, which is disposed over the fork shank 4 ,;engages such shank andmoves the fork downwardly. The belt: 19 lies under the fork shankand may assist- It will beunderstood that a the same in moving upwardly as the sleeve 6 is raised.

In using the telephone with the parts in the position shown in Fig. 1 and the set-- screw 14 loose, the user grips the sleeve 6 and moves the same upwardly, whereby the fork is moved to the dotted-line position, which permits the telephone to be used for speaking in the usual manner. The sleeve can be held by the hand in raised position throughout the conversation, either with the telephone resting on the desk or table, or with the telephone supported by the user, and when the telephone is placed back on the desk and the sleeve 6 is released, the parts return to normal position, it being necessary to use only one hand, since the receiver is mechanically supported in proper relation to the ear of the user while the mouth is in front of the transmitter. If it is desired to leave both hands free, the lifting device or lever 44 is made use of as eX- plained.

If the device is to be used without the sleeve 6, the bracket 7 is supported by means of the band 10. In this case it is merely necessary to turn the band 10 in a clockwise direction so as to allow the fork to be raised to use the telephone. By turning the band 10 in the opposite direction the fork 4 will be restored to normal position, it being understood that the bolts 18 and 19 remain in the bracket 7 for operating the fork 4 when the sleeve 6 is not employed.

If desired, the bracket 7 may be fastened stationary with respect to the telephone by clamping the sleeve 6 in fixed position, or by clamping the band 10, and if desired the bracket 7 may be supported only on the band 10, byplacing a bolt in the openings 43, as before referred to, or the bracket 7 may be supported 011 the sleeve 6 and the band 10 and member 11 detached from the telephone. When the bracket is thus supported stationary, the arm 8 may have a swinging movement on its pivot 27, the pin 33 being in the opening 35. A spring 51 which is connected with the bracket 7 and arm 8 holds the arm normally toward the transmitter, and the arm 8 is connected by two flexible elements or cords 5). and 53 with the fork 4. The cord 53 extends downwardly from the fork and passes through a fixed guide 54 on the telephone, and thence upwardly to a lug 55 on the bottom of the arm 8. The cord 52 extends upwardly from the fork 4 and connects with the upper portion of the arm 8. By this arrangement the movement of the receiver 5 and arm 8 inwardly to normal position toward the transmitter exerts a pull on the cord 53 so as to move the fork 4 downwardly to its normal position, whereas the movement of the receiver outwardly from the transmitter causes the cord 53 to slacken so that the fork 4 will be raised by its spring and the cord 52 may assist in raising the fork L to thereby place the telephone in condition for use.

Cords similar to the cords 52 and 53 enable the invention to be easily adapted for wall telephones, in which case the receiver fork is situated more or less remotely from the transmitter, but the receiver-carrying arm 8 can be mounted on the transmitter as shown in Fig. 1, and the cords extend from said arm to the. fork of the telephone to operate the same.

Tn adapting the attachment to a wall telephone without using the cords 52 and 53, the bracket 7 and members 8 and 11 will be suitably proportioned to obtain the proper Operative connection with the fork i, it being understood that in this case the attachment is fastened to the transmitter by the band 10.

The receiver supporting attachment is so designed that the receiver fork can be actuated by tilting the telephone toward the right somewhat as indicated in Fig. 8. The sleeve 6 is clamped down by the set-screw 141-, and the screws 18, 19 and 9,0 are removed so that the arm 7 will swing on the screw 17 as a center. Normally the weight of the arm and the parts attached thereto hold the fork 4 down by reason of the member 7 engaging the fork. By tilting the telephone sufficiently the arm 7 will swing to the right, Fig. 8, and allow the fork to rise, such Fig. 8 showing the telephone in the act of being tilted but not having reached the final point.

The arm 8 may have a swiveled or threaded joint at 8 so as to permit the transmitter to swing in a horizontal plane about the arm 8 as an axis.

Having thus described my invention, I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent:

1. The combination of a telephone including a stand, a fork, a transmitter, a sleeve movably mounted on the stand, a bracket carried by the sleeve and having means engageable with the fork on the telephone, whereby the movement of the sleeve with respect to the stand actuates the fork, and a receiver carried by the bracket.

2. The combination of a telephone including a stand, a fork, a transmitter, a sleeve movably mounted on. the stand, a bracket carried by the sleeve and having means enrgageable with the fork on the telephone, whereby the movement of the sleeve with re spect to the stand actuates the fork, a receiver carried by the bracket, and a detachable connection between the bracket and sleeve.

3. The combination of a desk telephone including a base, a column thereon, a transmitter on the column, and a fork extending from the column, a sleeve mounted on the column, a bracket connected with the sleeve, means movable with the sleeve for actuating the fork, and a receiver carried by the bracket.

t. The combination of a desk telephone including a base, a column thereon, a trans mitter on the column, and a fork extending from the column, a sleeve mounted on the column, a bracket connected with the sleeve, means movable with the sleeve for actuating the fork, and means adapted to hold the sleeve fixed with respect to the column for rendering the sleeve inoperative.

5. The combination of a desk telephone including a base, a column thereon, a transmitter on the column, and a fork extending from the column, a sleeve mounted on the column, a bracket connected with the sleeve, means movable with the sleeve for actuating the fork, and a device mounted on the sleeve and engageable with the base of the telephone for raising and lowering the sleeve by the movement of the device.

6. A telephone including a stand, a trans mitter thereon and a receiver fork, in combination with a sleeve slidably mounted on the stand and operatively connected with the fork for normally holding the same down and permitting the fork to rise when the sleeve is moved upwardly.

7. The combination of a telephone including a column a sleeve slidable on the column at a point below the fork, a member on the sleeve and engaging the fork, and a receiver-holding arm carried by the sleeve, whereby the weight of the arm and receiver normally holds the sleeve down and the latter holds the fork down.

8. The combination of a telephone includ ing a column, a fork and a base, with an attachment comprising a sleeve slidably mounted on the column between the base and fork, means on the sleeve engaging the fork to operate the same, a receiver-carrying arm mounted on the sleeve, and a lever fulcrumed on the sleeve adjacent the bottom thereof and having contact with the base, whereby the swinging of the lever raises or lowers the sleeve.

JOHN F. WILLIAMS.

(topics of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents, Washington, D. G. 

